A P15-million fund is now available to tech incubators.
The facility was made public by Singapore-based Building Cities Beyond (BCB) Blockchain and the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD).
PCIEERD is a funding agency of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) for research and development on, among other things, emerging technologies.
BCB Blockchain is a platform for building smart city solutions to address common problems of highly urbanized cities such as traffic, waste and energy management. BCB Blockchain supports the creation of high-tech solutions to solve urban problems.
“We are enthused to have this collaboration with BCB and eager to partake of their expertise, knowledge base, ecosystem, relationships and experience in blockchain technology, venture building and accelerating local startups,” said Dr. Enrico Paringit, PCIEERD executive director.
“We hope that this partnership will ignite the next wave of applications and innovations for the development of sustainable and smart cities,” Paringit said.
The aim is to reach out and engage researchers, startups and community members to use the BCB Blockchain platform and its technologies to create smart city solutions.
“By providing DOST, universities and technology business incubators the resources and technical knowledge that BCB Blockchain has, we expect them to deepen their competencies in the area of designing and developing applications and projects for smart cities,” said Douglas Gan, chief executive officer of BCB Blockchain.
“We will guide and provide them the access to hands-on workshops, funding, materials, events and technical support,” Gan added.
BCB Blockchain signed the memorandum of agreement (MOA) with PCIEERD during the 3rd National Technology Business Incubator Summit.
PCIEERD’s Technology Business Incubator Summit gathers DOST-funded incubators, government innovation agencies and private incubators and tech accelerators to explore innovative entrepreneurships.
The ongoing summit highlights Filipino startups and government support for startups, public and private agencies to share best practices concerning business incubation and startup support.